CRC in Colombia

The Convention on the Rights of the Child has been ratified in Colombia since 1991. For more information about the progress of CRC in the country you can visit the archiveof the Committee on the Rights of the Child for documents such as State Reports and Concluding Observations.

Internal issues regarding children in Colombia are mostly under the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF, for Spanish). This Institute was reorganized according to the Law 7th, 1979 that established the norms for the protection of the child and the National System of Familiar Well-being, among other dispositions. This Law was regulated by the National Decree 2388, 1979.

The internal armed conflict has used children for combat related duties through out the years and some others have been pushed for child labor. According to Human Rights Watch, "Approximatelly 80 percent of child combatants in Colombia belong to one of the two left-wing guerrilla groups, the FARC or ELN. The remainder fights in paramilitary ranks". The violence of war and the forced displacement that it causes have also affected a big number of children.

The highest expectation now for colombian people is placed on the Peace Treaty signed by the national government and the guerrilla group FARC on September 2, 2016. The main aim with this agreement is to finished the armed conflict and to restore the civil rights for all.